Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I had the pleasure to meet with the Coptic Orthodox Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Suriel. There are 70,000 Coptic Christians living in Australia today and the history of the Christian Copts in Egypt is one of a fragile co-existence punctuated by periods of persecution and violence. There are around eight million Coptic Christians living in Egypt and they do face persecution as a religious minority. The most recent massacre of Coptic Christians occurred on 6 January 2010, when six Christians and one off-duty police officer were gunned down and killed as they left church following a celebration of Christmas mass in the city of Nagaa Hammadi in Upper Egypt.

During the funeral of those murdered, government security forces used tear gas to silence protesters that had gathered. This deadly attack follows years of communal violence and clashes between Copts and Muslims where churches have been fire bombed, Christian shops torched and systematic discrimination and human rights abuses have been documented by credible human rights associations including Amnesty International. Amnesty condemned the attacks and has called on the Egyptian authorities to initiate a credible investigation and to take greater measures to protect religious minorities in Egypt.

Egypt is obliged under international law to ensure the protection of racial and religious groups and individuals. According to the US state department’s religious freedom report, however, the Copts’ ability to exercise their basic right to free worship is frustrated by Egypt’s complex and frequently arbitrary requirements for building and repairing churches. Religiously discriminatory laws and practices apply to Copts concerning conversion, marriage, parenthood, education and clergy salaries. The reported abduction and rape of young Copt girls is particularly upsetting. I refer to a story in the Washington Times which details an incident which occurred last October. The article states:

… Samria Markos, a single mother living in Alexandria, said her 17-year-old daughter, Amira, disappeared while on her way to work at a plastics factory. She got a call from “Sheikh Mohammed” who told her Amira was converting to Islam. When she showed up at a local mosque to look for her daughter, she was told to keep silent or her 9-year-old son would be killed. The woman and her son fled the area. Amira has not been heard from since.

The government of Egypt has also effectively restricted Christians from senior government, political, military and educational positions and there is increasing discrimination in the private sector also. Copts are increasingly marginalised in the political system. There are currently only six Christian members of the assembly—none of whom are directly elected but are appointed by the president, to whom they are politically beholden.

Whilst the Australian media and several world leaders have condemned the most recent attacks, the Australian government has not done so. Members of the US congress wrote to President Mubarak after the incident, urging Egypt to better protect the Coptic Christian community. The European parliament passed a resolution seeking for the Egyptian government to:

… guarantee that Coptic Christians and members of other religious communities and minorities enjoy the full range of human rights and fundamental freedoms …

The Italian foreign minister has stated that:

The violence perpetrated against the Coptic Christian community in Egypt is a cause for horror and censure.

The Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs has also strongly condemned the attacks and called upon the Egyptian government to:

… continue its efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice and restore calm and order to the area. We call on the broader Egyptian community to work together to end sectarian violence.

In government, the coalition worked to resettle in Australia around 100 Coptic Christians each year who were persecuted for expressing their religious beliefs in Egypt. It is our understanding from what has been reported to us by the Copts in Australia that this arrangement no longer exists under this government. These people were resettled in Australia under our humanitarian program and it is disappointing to see that the Rudd Labor government is no longer providing assistance to these people, particularly working in concert with the Coptic Orthodox Church here in Australia.

The coalition is concerned that the Egyptian government’s failure to protect its minority groups will lead to an escalation in sectarian violence, and we call upon the authorities to ensure that security forces provide Coptic Christians with appropriate protection. We also call upon the Australian government to end their silence and join the calls of the international community in expressing our concern as Australians over the recent violence and continued repression of religious freedom in Egypt and to reopen access to our humanitarian visa program to Coptic Christians.